Many emotions came rushing to the surface when I read a particular article this morning. I was mad, as in very angry, sad as in very grieved, disappointed as in I was hoping our young people knew better than this and outraged, as in livid, because the adults knew what was going on, at least to some degree.
What did I read?
In Gloucester, MA a group of teenage girls all under the age of 16 made a pact to get pregnant. And they did.
Right now in Gloucester High School there are 17 girls pregnant on purpose. Normally the average total of pregnancies each year for this particular high school hits about four.
These girls made a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together. What? Where are the parents?
What about the school clinic? They must have known because, the girls, according to the principal, were repeatedly making visits to the teen clinic taking multiple pregnancy tests. He even said these girls would get visibly upset when the results came back negative. When they came up positive eventually there were high fives given out and plans for baby showers.
Hello? The clinic knew this and kept giving out these tests with no counseling? Why? Parents should be outaged! I'm outraged and I'm not even one of these parents.
One of the fathers is a 24 year old homeless man.
This just came out in Time Magazine but was first reported in the Gloucester Daily Times. According to the Principal, Joe Sullivan, he said these particular girls lacked self-esteem and have a lack of love in their lives. All the more reason for the teen clinic to take notice. Don't ya think?
All the more proof to show that the Planned Parenthood behind all this is nothing more than a business. This meant more business for the clinic. They keep track of the business very well. They know the bottom line in each of these clinics.
A Christian clinic would NEVER have closed their eyes to such a pact. Because their goal is to try to keep kids from having sex, counseling would have been foremost on their mind when that first girl came in for a test.
So now we have, just in this one high school, 17 pregnant girls with no thought of the consequences. But what should we expect? Isn't that what we're teaching them? Holloywood glorifies sex outside of marriage and we mock those who dare to admit they believe in abstinence.
So we reward stupid behavior and we punish those who do right.
So much for sex education. These girls knew right where to go when they wanted encouragement getting pregnant. The adults passing out those tests did nothing to discourage them. Perhaps they thought they'd be back later to get their abortions. Follow the money trail.
Shame on them!
Well I guess they won't have to "stay home without their friends after the baby comes"...because they will all be meeting for play dates.
Wow.
Just, wow.
I wonder how the girls will re-act when one of them give the baby up for adoption....I imagine at least one of them will do it, and while she's carefree and they aren't...hmmmmm.
Will they high five her then?
Gloucester is often described as being a "fiercely Catholic" community. Do you know if these girls were from church-going families or were they the exceptions?
Apparently most of the fathers were from a street gang in Boston. What do we know about the girls' ties to this gang? Was this some sort of gang initiation?
There is a break down of teen pregnancy by state available at http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2006/09/12/USTPstats.pdf
Nevada and Arizona are one and two in the stats. After that comes Mississippi, New Mexico, Texas and....well, can you believe it? Florida. Aren't these mostly Christian states? I mean the number one state in teen pregnancy is 27% Roman Catholic, 13% Evangelical, 11% mainstream Protestant and 11% Mormon. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevada#Religion)
New York doesn't make the list until number 14 and ultra-liberal Connecticut, with a strong sex ed program, isn't on until 33.
What are these kids getting taught on Sundays?
[quote]I mean the number one state in teen pregnancy is 27% Roman Catholic, 13% Evangelical, 11% mainstream Protestant and 11% Mormon. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevada#Religion)[/quote]
What is this? Christian bashing? What does that have to do with this article? Were they all Christians who got pregnant? I would say dollars to donuts they were NOT. Or is that what you are hoping Larry? Anyhow...look at your stats (if they're even right) and let's suppose they're legit....did you add them up? That equals 62%. So? That still leaves 38% as no affiliation.
Besides all that...just saying you're a Mormon or a Catholic or even an Evangelical means nothing. I know many who say they are are Catholic but only attend church Christmas and Easter. It doesn't neccesarily make them Christian. It makes them affiliated with a denomination whatever that may be.
I don't believe there is any such thing as "Christian States." What is that?
MA is one of the most liberal states in the Union. I know because I lived in Maine and we weren't far behind. Sex Ed was far more advanced there then any other part of the nation so what does that tell us? Let's look at it from that angle....hmmm?
I have family in MA...lots of family. They may be a traditional Catholic State but they were always very liberal. Pretty much anything goes.
I don't think this has anything to do with church. I've been in church most of my life. The kids in the churches were NOT the ones getting pregnant. Usually because that meant there was family unity involved with faith binding them together. The stronger the faith, the stronger the kids were at resisting outside influences.
These girls, from the sounds of the articles surrounding it, came from homes where there was not alot of family unity and love that you'd find, for the most part, in most church families.
An update: Seems as tho now the city leaders are doing some scrambling and the HS principal is nowwhere to be found or at least hard to get a hold of by reporters wanting to interview him.
The mayor has come out and said the pact is "alleged" and there is going to be an upcoming meeting of city leaders to discuss the reason why this group of girls, almost all sophomores, decided to get pregnant all at the same time. The principal is not invited.
So what is the story behind the story? Hmmmm time will tell.
I was driving this morning and heard that the principal now has a "foggy memory" when it comes to where he heard about this pact. Oh brother.
Oh, and before anyone starts bashing it, can I just say that I don't think the movie Juno had anything to do with it? It's actually a very realistic approach to teen pregnancy. She is alienated from her school and friends, goes through a lot of emotional trauma, and ends up giving her baby up for adoption. A stupid mistake turned right. Or as right as the situation allowed.
That's just my little digression. Thanks for the post, KFC.
Oh I do AD. We're going to have to respectfully disagree. I've read more article and have listened to more testimonies than I care to count from those very up close and personal to the PP clinics. Many were not only abortion providers but also clinic owners.
Ask Dobson. He's had in the past many past abortionists on his site and they were very frank saying it was all about the bottom line. They knew when they got permission to get into a school sytem their profits would skyrocket.
Read the story "Won By Love" by Norma McCorvey all about the behind the scenes stuff going on. She was the woman who got the whole ball rolling being the test case behind the landmark decision of 1973.
As soon as the decision was final, she was dumped by those pushing the PP agenda ahead and away they went. PP is a huge money maker and I say they are making money at our kids' expense.
The lies behind many abortions by the provider (for money) are well documented and many have made it as far as the court systems in the form of litigation against PP.
I've been involved in the Christain side of clinics and it's much different. They do their best to deal with the causes but it's an uphill battle because they are NOT allowed into the school system like the PP clinics are. There is no way a girl would be coming into a Christian clinic for repeated test results without some serious heart to heart.....that's probably why the Christian clinics are NOT so popular. Makes sense that the PP would be the place to go if you were 16 wouldn't it? Especially if the goal is to get pregnant.
Oh and Lula, the review of Juno was extremely biased. It just goes to show you how much our own biases taint our perceptions. In the movie Juno's mother abandoned her family. I hate the way they try to portray every divorce as a failure of both spouses. The fact is no matter how much you want an intact family for your kids, you can't make someone stay married that doesn't want to be there. One person can break the deal, that doesn't mean that the other spouse didn't value marriage.
As far as the adoptive couple in the movie, the husband basically decides he has missed out and wants to be free and young again. He doesn't want the responsibility of the family. I never got the impression that the wife decided he was irrelevent.
I have a hard time thinking that the whole problem lies at the feet of sex-education.
More likely (but since there are so few details about the people involved) it has far more to do with emotions, and a desire to feel connected and a bunch of other social issues that sex education can't possibly address.
I'm not sure how sex-education in the U.S. works. It's probably extremely diverse from location to location.
As far as I'm concerned, sex-education should cover how one's body works, the vectors of STD's and the consequences of having sex (positive and negative). Dispel the myths that teenagers have about sex. I think that is really important. I do think that parents have a huge responsibility to teach their children about these issues but most people don't have a lot of the information about how the body works, statistics etc.
I honestly think that the whole morality aspect belongs in a completely different class. This is also the area where I think parents can really shine when talking about issues involving sex. One doesn't need a lot of knowledge about biology etc to have this discussion. I also believe this kind of discussion in a family can really demystify the whole aura of sex.
Teenagers are going to talk about sex. Honestly, if they can't get the real facts, they are just going to promote they myths they believe or are floating around at the time. In fact, I think sex-ed gives the parent a perfect opening to discuss things with their child. Discussing what was covered in school can also give parents a chance to talk about their opinions or moral views and how it relates to what is going on in the place where they live.
Nothing is perfect, especially when it comes to topics that make people feel awkward. Maybe my views here are too idealistic.
Also, the person who did the Juno review must have done it without hearing the dialogue.
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